


Legacies Lost, Rebuilt, Reclaimed

by Vertumn



Series: Etheria Rebuilt, Reclaimed [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cogitation, Gen, Introspection, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16767544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vertumn/pseuds/Vertumn
Summary: Tactics, bias, and the value of life. Who can say what the She-Ras of old were like as warriors, as leaders, as living beings?You do not know. Maybe they thought this, or that, or something else altogether. They could do this, or that, or other feats beyond mere mortals’ reach. You do not know.





	Legacies Lost, Rebuilt, Reclaimed

Sometimes, you feel like a fraud.

At Thaymor, you hadn’t needed to know much about the sword you’d found or the transformation it triggered; you could fight more than well enough transposing your Horde training to your scaled-up body and strength. You, your cohort’s foremost cadet, had been promoted to Force Captain despite your youth because you had proved yourself not only to Shadow Weaver, but also to your instructors and to Lord Hordak himself. What was a bit of discomfort and disorientation and crisis of faith in the face of an entire childhood’s worth of training? And maybe the sword granted your new body built-in muscle memory: fighting as She-Ra is almost as thoughtless as breathing.

Plumeria, however, proved that She-Ra has to be more than a soldier. The She-Ra of old didn’t just swing her sword around and strike down enemy robots: she was a warrior, a beast tamer, a healer, _a beacon of legendary magnitude_. How could army training, even for a so-called prodigy, possibly compare?

She-Ra, the Princess of Power.

What does that mean? You do not know.

You say the words without understanding them:

> _For the honor of Grayskull!_
> 
> _Eternia._
> 
> _For Etheria!_

They come as part and parcel of She-Ra. Other things—the language itself, the regalia, the responsibility—are simple enough to rationalize and understand. The language and technology of the First Ones fell out of use long before you were born, the sword grants and unlocks She-Ra’s power, and obviously (or, not so obviously for a Horde-grown soldier) such power is meant to be wielded for the right reasons. But what does it _mean_ , to fight for Etheria? What does it _mean_ , to take up the mantle of She-Ra for Grayskull, for Eternia?

It is another thing you do not know.

Of course, you cannot be blamed for your ignorance. Your most recent predecessor walked the world a thousand years ago. The collapse of the First Ones’ civilization took those who would have taught you. Your parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles or distant cousins or long-lost relations—well, you are an orphan found by the Shadow Weaver and raised at the heart of the Evil Horde. All this, and more; knowledge does not easily survive by itself.

You are not a She-Ra educated, guided, _raised_ in the doctrines of the First Ones by First Ones and whatever affiliates (Grayskull? Eternia?) they may or may not have had. You are Adora, your childhood is the Horde’s, your education is the Rebellion’s, and your values come from the synthesis of the two.

The She-Ra harms and heals, tears down and upholds, forgives and condemns.

How-how-how?

Destruction and creation. You contain both within yourself, but _how_? You have no teacher or even a command structure to show you how to wield, how to _be_ , She-Ra. You have only the hologram (artificial intelligence? Spirit?) Light Hope, who frankly is more cryptic than helpful; plus, Light Hope is limited to the First Ones’ crystal hold in the middle (or thereabouts, since it won’t stay in one place or even give you directions to find it) of the Whispering Woods.

You have no choice but to wield your power as you see fit and as you are able. Your time with the Horde and your time with the Rebellion inform your decisions. The First Ones are only legends and fragments to you; they cannot, or will not, help you or guide you or teach you.

Perhaps they—the First Ones, or She-Ra’s keepers, or even the guardians of Grayskull—would have had you be the kind of leader who sees, thinks, and acts in terms of “the big picture.” Perhaps they would have discouraged your mortal attachments: Mara, whose conflicted mortal attachments broke the chain of power and succession a millennium ago, more than proved that such things are sparks which can raze entire civilizations.

If that were the case, then the First Ones would have been more like the Horde than anyone in the Rebellion or the Horde would like to admit. If Light Hope wanted to drive a chasm between you and your best friend, well… Shadow Weaver never approved of your attachment to Catra, either. Maybe powerful leaders don’t get to have friends.

Or, perhaps this nebulous “they” would have had you be a leader who sees, thinks, and acts with “the little people” in mind. Perhaps they would have encouraged the reestablishment of the Princess Alliance, even with the attendant risk of death: after all, the very stability of Etheria relies on the harmony between runestones and their princesses, as the Black Garnet so quickly showed before the battle at Bright Moon.

Tactics, bias, and the value of life. Who can say what the She-Ras of old were like as warriors, as leaders, as living beings?

You do not know. Maybe they thought this, or that, or something else altogether. They could do this, or that, or other feats beyond mere mortals’ reach. You do not know.

† † †

You have been chosen, you live today in a renewed war that spans the entirety of Etheria, and you have to become a She-Ra capable of ending this injustice.

What does that mean?

It means that Etheria has Adora. Etheria has a She-Ra disparate to her own legacy. Etheria has a champion disconnected from her own training. Etheria has a leader distant from whatever standards the First Ones set.

Etheria has a hero produced by the Evil Horde.

Maybe that will change.

Maybe Light Hope will deign to give you answers about the extent of She-Ra’s powers and teach you to use them and help you acclimate to She-Ra’s, to _your_ , body so that when the next battle comes you won’t perform as poorly as you did at the battle of Bright Moon. Maybe Madam Razz will pause long enough to explain the history of the She-Ra and of Mara in particular, because you need to know your history so that you may escape repeating it.

Maybe someone else will step in, show you how to be a proper Princess of Power, shift your mentality so that you no longer think in terms of hiding weaknesses and relying on only yourself, and tell you that you are not a fraud.

You do not know, and you cannot wait.

You only know that you, Adora, must trust that you are adequate as you are and as the person you will become.

**Author's Note:**

> Less of a proper fic, but not quite an essay.
> 
> Thoughts?


End file.
